Loose Notes 10/24/15

  I haven't been on the air very much this week, having to work a lot of extra hours. Still, I wanted to get a post up this weekend. 

1.25M:

  In a brief QSO with KA0PQW (Matt), I found that my 5W UHF/1.25M HT works okay to get into the 223.940- (100.0 PL) repeater while mobile. I put my TYT F9 in the car and connected it to a tri-band Comet whip in order to put the coverage of the 1.25M repeater to a bit of a test. While I "ker-chunked" the machine several times over the course of the week, Matt was the first actual contact I've had with this mobile HT arrangement since the .940 link was restored. I wasn't full-quieting with the HT as a mobile, and Matt said that he could "tell you're mobile", but I consider it a success from a distance of thirteen miles. A 1.25M HT could be a very effective solution to get in to the HandiHam network and avoid the aggravating time-out issues with the 444.650+ machine.

  TYT doesn't make the UHF/1.25M version any more, and now offer a $75 2M/1.25M version. However, the new BCH-220 monoband HT from Bridgecom is a better option for $85. Monoband rigs virtually always have better front-ends than dual-band radios, and Bridgecom is an American company with a very good reputation. They also offer a 25W packet-capable mobile rig for $240 (with optional Bluetooth) if you want a high-quality 1.25M rig with more power. There's plenty of vacant frequency pairs on the band if you're interested in setting up a 1.25M repeater, too. 

DMR: 

  Last weekend, the local DMR community welcomed KC0DGY (Kent) to the local repeater. Kent took advantage of a (now expired) offer by Connect Systems, and got a TYT MD-380 DMR HT for $130. The MD-380 is rapidly becoming a very popular choice for hams to get into DMR, and even at the normal price of $165 it's a great deal. In addition to giving you access to repeaters across North America and Europe, it also functions as a UHF monoband radio that can hold all of the 440 MHz repeaters in the entire State (and then some). Best of all, KE0NA (Dave) has built a very nice code-plug for the MD-380 so that you don't have to learn how to program it. You can get on the air as soon as you load it on to the radio. A code-plug is just a programming file, similar to what you use to load repeaters and settings into your analogue radio.

  Dave is also hosting code-plugs for various Motorola radios, the MD-380, and the Connect Systems CS-700 here. Whatever DMR radio that you end up with, the local amateur community can whip something up and get it programmed. Once you have a working code-plug installed, you can learn how they work and tweak your particular radio to your own tastes. Dave has also generously made Motorola licences available to several local hams, and they can program your radio without spending hundreds on the programming software.

EDIT: KE0NA (Dave) has asked that I add this clarifying statement regarding the Motorola licences: 

What I am doing is authorizing several vetted local DMR hams as "employees" of my Motorola licensed and state registered company "Ventek" to have access to the software as responsible radio technicians. They have to agree to the software agreement from Motorola Solutions (do not distribute to anyone else). My concept was to have 4 or five hams located in a regionally dispersed arrangement so that any DMR ham with MotoTRBO gear would not have to travel far to get his/her radio programmed.

If you have a Motorola (MotoTRBO) rig and want to get it programmed, contact KQ0RS (Sparky), NH7CY (Jason), KA0KMJ (John), N0YNT (Matt), or Dave. Those using the TYT or Connect Systems (CSI) radios have free software available, and can just download the code-plug from Dave's site and install it on their own. 

  Since Kent joined the ranks of local DMR operators, two more long-time hams have also made the move into DMR: KC0BBK (Galen) and AD0KW (Frederic). 

  Matt and Jason are also making plans to improve access to the local DMR network. It looks as if the St Paul 442.025+ machine will move to the St. Paul University campus, which should greatly improve coverage in the east metro. The existing 442.425+ repeater will either move to new location on the East bank campus, or switch to a 444 MHz frequency pair to reduce interference caused by the MARA central remote receive link on the same site. Either option will improve HT access to the network. This is important, since most local operators still use HTs to get in (though with external antennae). There's still a third repeater in search of a site. And, there's always the possibility that N0BVE (Don) will set up his own repeater or link local traffic. 

  Another eight TAC talk-groups (TGs) have been added to the local DMR repeaters since last weekend. These are "channels" that can be used to talk with other amateur operators on the K4USD network. DMR has two "slots", making each machine two repeaters in one. Each slot (TS) has multiple talk-groups assigned to it, and any operator can choose which talk-group to monitor or use. For example, there can be a local roundtable going on Local 2 while another local operator is on Worldwide English talking to someone in Belgium. TAC TGs allow conversations to move off 'busy' calling channels while only using two repeaters and one slot. 

  You can see DMR traffic in real-time, as it would be available on the local DMR repeaters, at http://cbridge.k4usd.org:42420/MinimalNetwatch. You can also see your signal strength, as received by the local repeater. Look for the RSSI column, and understand that a -60 dBm is stronger than a -120 dBm signal. 

HandiHam:

  I was intrigued to find out that HandiHam linked to this blog. Normally, I try to keep this blog on the down-low to avoid the seething rage of those exposed to contrary opinions, but HandiHams are good people. Mostly, anything that I write about here involves the local (Minneapolis/St. Paul) network, rather than the wider world. 

  With that in mind, I thought that I'd add a mention of some of the links that allow anyone to listen to activity on the local network. I frequently use my Android smart-phone to listen to the local traffic when I'm at work, and certainly these links will allow you listen at home or on the road using a streaming media player ( e.g. Winamp or Xiaa on Android). Remember, you can only listen with these links. 
          
http://216.167.221.45:8026   Local MSP HandiHam network 
http://216.167.221.45:8028   Chaska link (seems to be the same thing)
http://216.167.221.45:8024   MN_CONF EchoLink conference 
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/16377  From your web browser

Local repeaters:  

  Last week, I heard the 442.600+ (156.7 PL) return to the air! Frankly, it has been down for so long that I had given up on it. Last Thursday, though, it came back with an S4 -- half of it's former signal.  It's a lot stronger now. I used to be able to work it readably with an indoor HT/duck, but those days seem to be gone. Still, I'm on the opposite side of town and I can "ker-chunk" it for an S8 with 10W and an indoor whip, or full-scale with 2W into an exterior whip. The list of neglected UHF repeaters in town with excellent performance is long and depressing. 

  The 444.450+ (114.8 PL) has been down for a few days now. More accurately, it still transmits traffic from the WIRES-X hub but seems deaf to all local traffic. EDIT: Per Pete in the comments, and per KA0KMJ, this repeater is temporarily using a DCS tone of 023N.

  Just a reminder that the 444.875+ (114.8 PL) repeater is digital (D-Star), but also operates as a very nice analogue FM repeater on the same frequency pair. Full-scale here in Plymouth with 2W into an exterior whip. 

  K0LAV (Paul) has informed me that the metro area will imminently be joined to the SuperLink network. I'm not a big fan of the SuperLink, which was something cutting-edge thirty years ago, but this has been something that Paul has aspired to restore for several years now. With a link set up in Monticello, the 147.390+ (94.8 PL) will connect to the nearest SuperLink repeater in Collegeville (near St. Cloud). There will also be a cross-band link to the 224.100- (no tone) machine near White Bear Lake (that I've never been able to reach). Accessing the 147.390 machine will allow local operators to enter the repeater that they want to contact by using DTMF tones. For example, you can enter "236" to access the Bemidji repeater, and enter "1 236" to close the link when you are done. The SuperLink provides access to a dozen repeaters in North Dakota, and one in South Dakota (that isn't part of the SDLink network). It should be noted that the 146.880- South Dakota repeater doesn't list itself as part of the network on RepeaterBook. A few other ND repeaters in the SuperLink network are also "unverified" as to whether they are even on-air, while at least one is listed as "off-air". There is no EchoLink access to the SuperLink. 

New acquisitions: 

  I've finally broken down and ordered an Arrow satellite antenna (with duplexer and case). Next is getting a PuXing UV-973 HT that operates in full duplex, so that I can hear the satellites while I'm talking. The Arrow can also be mounted in either horizontal or vertical mode, so it should also come in handy for 2M SSB or FM. At $200, it's the most that I've ever paid for an antenna. 

  I've also picked up another Phantom Elite UHF antenna. Putting it on my balcony allowed me to "ker-chunk" several local UHF machines with only 2W, and it works well on my car for local UHF repeaters. I'm considering buying the Connect Systems CS-800 mobile, which would make me UHF-only in my car, and I'm hopeful that this tiny new antenna will do the job with the extra power. 


Well, that's pretty much all of it. 
Tomorrow (10/25) is my three-year anniversary as a licensed amateur.

Loose Notes 10/11/15

  Not a heck of a lot has happened in my radio world this week, but I'll try to put something together. 

• On Wednesday (10/7), the RF link between the 1.25M 223.940- repeater in Arden Hills and the HandiHam network was restored by KG0BP (Chris) after being down for nearly two years. Chris received substantial help from N0BVE (Don), who provided a tower. The signal from the 223.940 is received in Richfield and sent to the network via EchoLink, and any traffic on the network is transmitted to the 223.940 repeater with an Alinco mobile. I had a chance to test it out yesterday (10/10) with KA0PQW (Matt) and Don, getting in easily with 10W into a mag-mount tri-band whip from the opposite side of the metro. Don was also on 1.25M, so I had a chance to hear the audio directly and it's pretty good. The .940 will get a work-out with all of the traffic on the network. Thanks to everyone involved in this useful project. 

• As part of this upgrade by KG0BP, the 444.850+ (114.8 PL) HandiHam repeater is back on the air. In contrast to my discussions with Chris last November, he decided to use the old antenna that the .850 used before, rather than a north-facing beam. At only 13 miles distance, I'm unable to "ker-chunk" the .850 nor even hear any of the network traffic carried on it. Don has worked it from about seven miles at the University, and Chris' wife has worked it from about five miles distance. Undoubtedly, topography is the major limitation here. In its previous incarnation, the 444.850 had quite decent coverage to the south, and it's likely that it still does. Try it out and put your signal reports on RepeaterBook. Some operators in the inner southern suburbs might find the .850 a welcome alternative to the .650, as it's not plagued by a short time-out. The 444.850 is a fully-functional linked network repeater, so reaching it re-transmits your signal on every other HandiHam repeater over three bands.

• In an on-air chat with N0YNT (Matt) over DMR (N. America TG), I learned that he will moving back to St. Paul (from San Francisco) in 3 or 4 weeks. We discussed moving the 223.900- repeater to the St. Paul campus (definite maybe), and the 224.940- machine to K9EQ's (Chris) site (unlikely). Matt also has some hazy plans for the 443.425+ and 147.150+ repeaters that have more or less languished for years. Before his move to the West Coast, Matt expressed a vision for an ambitious metro-wide, linked, cross-band network. The pieces are finally coming together, with various people contributing their unique talents and thinking outside the conventional box. 

•  A chat with N0GOI (Terry) revealed that his six-metre FM repeater project (53.470-) is "not that far off". Two years ago, the TCRC's 53.370- machine died a whimpering death and left the metro without 6M FM coverage. Last year, W0CE (Charlie) informed me that his 6M repeater in Ramsey was, indeed, off-air, and would not be restored. N0BVE (Don) has been looking for a site for his 6M repeater for years now. I'm unsure how much interest there is in the metro for the six-metre band, at least as far as FM goes. With three bands already, and activity declining, it might be a "tough sell". In theory, the lower frequency should provide somewhat better "over-the-horizon" coverage (all other propagation anomalies aside). I could see more value with six-metre FM as part of cross-band linked system than as a stand-alone option. 

• In a QSO with K0ZZK (Tom) on the 444.475+ (118.8 PL) repeater yesterday (10/10), I learned that the antenna for the Richfield (RARC) machine has been upgraded. I was fairly surprised to reach it so well with an indoor antenna 13 miles away, especially considering my complete failure to reach the 444.850 (in the same city) with an outdoor antenna. Tom gave me a good signal report, however, and the .475 came back to me with an S6 signal here in Plymouth. Per Tom, the cross-band link to the RARC's 145.390- (103.5 PL) is no longer working and the idea has been abandoned. Still, the UHF .475 is a System Fusion machine, which offers potential for WIRES-X linking if the RARC ever wanted to do something creative with their coverage. For example, a WIRES-X link to the 442.075+ C4FM machine in Prior Lake (18 miles away) would be mutually beneficial. It would open up more of 169 and 35W to the metro and boost the fringes of the 444.475's coverage. As it stands now, though, the upgraded .475 has excellent coverage. I just need to find out how well I can reach it with 10W in my car this far away. 

• Not satisfied with being a major metro APRS gateway, N0AGI (Nagi) has teamed up with N0BVE (Don) to put N0AGI-5 on the Chaska water tower. This moves the I-Gate about a dozen miles north, and much higher. The results are very impressive. The map of stations directly heard shows that coverage for the west metro (which has always lagged) and the north-west metro (always spotty) has now dramatically improved. Keep in mind when looking at that map, that this is showing the results from less than a week at the new site. There still might be a gap between N0AGI-5 and the Litchfield KD0JOU-2, but the odds of getting your packets gated in the west metro are now pretty good. The map doesn't show coverage from digipeated stations, so this is a worst-case scenario...and it's very good. More information on the new gateway can be found at Nagi's blog.

• Nagi is also involved in another project: a WinLink gateway and packet node on 145.670. Per Nagi, this is actually three different projects. N0AGI-10 is a WinLink gateway that allows access to mail over RF. N0AGI-15 is a KA-node for packet allowing you to link to other packet nodes. And N0AGI-5 is a BBS (bulletin board) for posting messages, accessible over RF. Nagi is very keen to have others test this out and make use of it. Remember, packet works over FM. Your standard FM mobile, connected to a TNC and your computer, will allow you to do access these nodes (and other nodes on 145.110). While I'm just getting in to packet through APRS, I'm not familiar with anything outside of that. Nagi has generously agreed to advise me on how to set up a working packet station, and I hope to share that information here on the blog in the future.

• After being unable to reach N0YNT's (Matt) UHF SNP repeater on 443.000+ (118.8 PL) for a couple of weeks, I was surprised to find it working this week. Located in St. Paul, it's been around for years. Hopefully Matt can find time to look at it when he returns to Minnesota in a month or so. 

• On the other hand, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get in to the 444.950+ (114.8 PL) repeater in White Bear Lake. I haven't been able to raise it in my car for over a month, nor with an indoor whip. I takes an outdoor antenna and at least 10W to open it up. A few months ago, I was able to work it with an HT/duck indoors. 

• The MARA 444.800+ (114.8 PL) continues to struggle. If you use this machine regularly, you are probably aware of it's annoying tendency to shut down completely for ten minutes or more if a QSO goes beyond six or seven minutes. In a QSO with KG0BP this week, it went dead just as we were discussing the effort to restore his UHF .850 repeater. It's smart to agree to a backup QSY when using the .800 repeater.

1.25M Link For HandiHam Network

  Per KA0PQW (Matt), the 223.940- (100.0 PL) repeater will soon be linked into the HandiHam network. This repeater was linked in for a long time, but the link was taken down when KG0BP (Chris) moved nearly two years ago now. 

  It seems that N0BVE (Don) has installed a tower at Chris' house for the 1.25M antenna, and that this station will re-transmit HandiHam network traffic to the 223.940 repeater. Likewise, any traffic on the 223.940 will be received by this remote base and linked in through the internet (most likely via EchoLink). 

  We finally have cross-band linking to 1.25M in the metro! There have been other short-lived efforts to link the band up to the rest of the world over the past year, and many more plans to do so voiced, but this looks as if this will stick. 

  The 223.940 has very good coverage. Those in the north metro and western Wisconsin that have struggled to get in to the network through 2M or UHF should find it easy to do using 1.25M, and mobile coverage throughout the metro has been pretty solid, in my experience. I've worked the .940 with a 5W HT in my car (using a tri-band whip) from North Branch, and I can certainly work it with 5W into an exterior antenna from here in Plymouth. 

  Chris also operated the 444.850+ HandiHam repeater out of his home years ago. It's possible that this development could restore that machine to the air before too long. The south metro already has good coverage on UHF from the .325 at the airport and whatever machine is currently running in Chaska. But Chris had told me last November that he planned to use a north-pointing beam on the .850 to eliminate some of the southern coverage redundancies and fill in the gaps of the .650 repeater. That would be good news, because  the .650 has spotty coverage (and a maddening two-minute time-out). If the 444.850 could cover more of the UHF-deficient west metro, that would be a plus.

  Previously, K9EQ (Chris) has voiced a willingness to host the 224.940 repeater, which has been operating out of a garage in New Brighton for years now. It's possible that another cross-band link (UHF/1.25M) could be in the metro's future. 

  It's getting a bit late in the year for any dramatic improvements in the landscape, so I'll take what i can get at this point.

Loose Notes 4/4/15 - Easter

  I didn't spend a great deal of time on the air this week, but I did spend a fair amount of time in amateur radio discussions off-air. Here's the round-up: 

• KA0KMJ (John) has moved his C4FM repeater to a new site in Dayton (northern metro suburb) about eight miles from his home. The 444.725+ (127.3 PL) hybrid-mode repeater now has a 50W Henry PA, making it the second most-powerful C4FM machine in the metro. The new site is nicely unobstructed and significantly higher, and John has been exploring the improved coverage radius. The machine uses an ARS GasFET RX pre-amp to really clean up signals on the fringe, and it's a welcome addition to the UHF under-served NW suburbs. Don't be fooled by the PL tone; this is an open repeater, and not one of the "emergency" machines. John tells me that a 50W UHF mobile gets him in to the .725 from Zimmerman.

• Last night, I had a brief QSO with John on the UHF .725 while returning home from a birthday party in St. Louis Park. At Hwy 55 and Winnetka, I was virtually unreadable on my 10W mobile (with trunk-lip mounted tri-band whip). That's a very low spot, however, and I chose it specifically to test the coverage. I've always considered it interesting that the County put the 444.175+ (127.3 PL) "emergency" repeater in that vicinity. Once I got on I-169, however, the signal into John's repeater improved -- especially as I gained a little elevation. This is the nature of UHF, and one of the things that I love about the band. It's not "easy". It's also a compelling case for linked repeaters on the band, rather than "monster coverage" machines that attempt to defy the physics of UHF propagation. Also, another QSO with John this afternoon had him getting in readably at 23 miles from I-35W and CR 36. 

•  Coverage reports are also trickling in for the KE0NA/N0AGI cross-band link effort. Using WIRES-X, the 1.25M 223.900- (100.0 PL) and UHF 442.175+ (100.0 PL) have been linked for a few weeks now. At the moment, this is the only 1.25M cross-band action in town. Still no word on when the 223.940- (100.0 PL) machine in Arden Hills will have its link with the HandiHam network restored, either. N0AGI (Nagi) recently reported that KE0NA (Dave) was getting through to the UHF .175 Prior Lake repeater while mobile on the 1.25M .900 -- even as he went through the Lowry Hill tunnel. There have also been scattered reports of activity from distant parts accessing the twin repeaters through WIRES-X.

• The APRS site aprs.fi is back up again after a dust-up with Google over the use of OSM maps on the site. I had expected the site to be down over the holiday week-end, but Google responded promptly.

• Speaking of APRS, the Doers Coop looks as if it is reviving its efforts to use Raspberry Pi (RPi) boards for APRS gateways. If it's successful and documented, turn-key I-Gates could very easily be set up anywhere with internet access. Even rural areas could see gateways implemented with mag-mount 1/4-wave antennae, connected to the internet at libraries, courthouses, schools and vo-techs, and even municipal garages. There are a lot of digipeaters in rural MN, but few gateways. Strategically placing one of these RPi I-gates a few miles from a digipeater would connect local APRS end-users to the rest of the world, and add valuable VHF propagation data to alert hams of VHF tropo openings.

• And, it seems as if AE0RF (Justin) is on a parallel course. He's had AE0RF-10 operating as a receive-only gateway in St. Paul's Payne-Phalen neighbourhood for a few weeks now. His gateway uses RPi, an SDR receiver, and solar power. It was a valuable resource when W0YC-5 went down recently, and it's proof-of-concept for the Doers Coop. Hopefully, Justin can team up with the Doers and we can make this clever solution accessible to the amateur radio community at large. K0LAV (Paul) has also told me of a solar-powered digipeater in Isle, MN.

• Also along these lines, WB0GVI-8 is back on the air with a digipeater near Loring Park. As you can see here, WB0GVI (Noel) is providing fill-in service for the metro, and he routinely reaches the N0AGI gateway in Prior Lake.

• Last weekend, on N0BVE's (Don) 145.230- SNP repeater, I had a nice QSO with WA0DKS (Susie) in southern California. It seems that Don has left the EchoLink node constantly connected to the MN_CONF conference server. The repeater itself is in Chaska, which might make reaching it a challenge for some in the metro.

• N0AGI has put his ARISS I-Gate on the air! The International Space Station (ISS) has about a half-dozen passes over the metro each day, lasting from five to ten minutes each. While it's FM voice function is mostly disabled, it receives FM AX.25 packets (including APRS) on 145.825 regularly. Naturally, a gateway is needed for those packets -- and Nagi has provided one. If you'd like to get in on the fun, see Nagi's "how-to" post on his blog. Work the "digipeater in the sky"!

• KE0NA (Dave) has a short video of activity at the Doers Coop table in the Mid-winter Madness hamfest last weekend. 

•  Over the past week, I've noticed test digipeaters in Maple Plain and Anoka on aprs.fi. Both of these are nice locations to fill in the gaps in coverage and make HT APRS operation possible. 

• The 443.075+ (146.2 PL) machine in Little Falls (WU0S) is now "periodically" connected to the small Central MN linked network (run by DARC). This network links the UHF repeaters in Avon (443.650+), Litchfield (443.800+), and Paynesville (224.800-), and it is accessible through EchoLink (node 925804). This network has always impressed me. UHF can be a "tough sell" in rural areas, and 1.25M is a "tough sell" in general. The 443.475+ in Becker was, at one time, part of this linked network -- and the only part that reached into the metro. N0YNT (Matt) offered to link the network to the local UHF 444.425+ power-house, but DARC wanted to keep their network local in nature. Still, LSAC is making UHF work in northern MN, and western MN is also implementing UHF in rural areas through linked repeaters. And, there's also a linked UHF repeater system in Moorhead. Stand-alone repeaters on the band make a good showing throughout the State.

Well, that's more than I thought that I had when I sat down. There you have it.

Loose Notes 2/22/15

As usual, just a few scattered bits of info that don't merit an in-depth examination. 

• N0BVE (Don) has apparently been trying to get his SNP 2M repeater to take off. On 145.230- (114.8 PL), it's operating out of either Minnetonka or Chaska. It's hard to keep up with the constantly-shifting status of his multiple machines, after all. The EchoLink node says Chaska, but Don has told me that it's at his home in Minnetonka. The 145.23 has a decent signal strength (S7 here in Plymouth), but there's a fair amount of noise. I'm not sure if the audio is just fairly low, or if there's interference, but the quality of the signal is not good relative to the signal strength. There's not a lot of local activity on the repeater, and it's not often linked to the rest of the network, but Don does frequently connect it to a different EchoLink conference -- MN_CONF. This is a chatty (and friendly) group of people from outside of the area, and the connection to the conference server does create activity on a repeater that would otherwise be dead. It's worth checking out.

• One of Don's other projects, the C4FM repeater on 442.925+ (114.8 PL), is still holding up. There's been issues with the PA blowing on the local C4FM repeaters, but this one is working fine. It has a much better signal than the 145.23 machine (from my vantage point, anyway), though it doesn't seem to be connected to the larger HandiHam network. I'm pretty sure that it has WIRES-X access, though, so it's a bit more than a stand-alone UHF machine. 

• It's not often that we can look forward to a new two-metre repeater in town. The frequency pairs are tightly locked up, but K0LAV (Paul) managed to get his hands on the 147.390+ (94.8 PL) pair a few months ago. In an on-air conversation with him, I learned that his two remote receive sites (White Bear Lake and Columbia Heights) are up and running. The repeater itself is not yet on the air, though. Current plans involve a cross-band link to his 1.25M 224.100- (no PL) repeater in Gem Lake, and DTMF access to the SuperLink network. Big plans, certainly, but Paul has a proven track record of making big plans a reality. It's also encouraging to see something innovative finally taking shape on the local 2M scene. The vast majority of those who cling to the two-metre pairs have rejected, struggled, and fumbled with anything new. Adding voice ID seems to be the major concession to the world of thirty years ago. And there's those three D-Star repeaters. And a bare few EchoLink nodes -- that never seem to be logged in. So it's pretty impressive that Paul has undertaken this novel course of action. 

• The major digipeater in the metro, K0YTH-13, has been down for the past three days. I notified N0ZRD (Gordy), and he's confident that it can be returned to service quickly. This is why it's great that we have redundancies in coverage. Most of that redundancy is provided by individuals, and not the clubs. The clubs talk up EmComm, but seem completely incapable of connecting a BaoFeng to a junky old laptop and making even a feeble pretence of  supporting the local APRS infrastructure. Thanks go out to those guys that are there when things fail. 

• I've confirmed that KA0KMJ (John) has his C4FM repeater back on the air in Osseo. Operating in hybrid mode on 444.725+ (127.3 PL), John has reduced his output power to 20W in order to prevent the PA from melting down again. I'm only about seven miles from the repeater, and it comes back S9++ (full scale), but I'll have to try out the coverage on my mobile to get an idea of how useful the machine will be for my day-to-day purposes. The 444.725 holds up the NW for UHF C4FM, while Don's 442.925 repeater takes care of the SW metro. And, of course, K9EQ (Chris) runs his power-house (100W+) 444.525+ (114.8 PL) machine out of Mounds View, which takes care of Minneapolis and St. Paul proper (at least). UHF is definitely where the new stuff happens around here. 

• In about a week, the 1.25M Aggrandizer repeater on 223.900- (100.0 PL) will have its new PA up and running. Capable of 100W, it will be run at "only" 80W to provide a margin of safety and reliability. KE0NA (Dave) has run some models, and we expect that it will cover Minneapolis and most of the first-ring suburbs quite well. The rest of the metro generally falls into a S5-or-less zone. Options for expanding this range (which is already far more than we originally anticipated) are being explored. You can get a full-powered rig for this band for $150, and there's decent mobile coverage for most of the metro already. In a few months, the HandiHam network will be linked to 1.25M and the SuperLink will be accessible. There's already EchoLink on the 224.660- (100.0 PL) repeater. N0FKM (Dan) is pondering the restoration of UHF cross-band with his 224.500- (100.0 PL) machine, too. Things are happening on the infrastructure end, but we need more operators using this band or we'll lose it to commercial interests.

HandiHam network update

I ran into N0BVE (Don) on the Medtronic UHF .525 repeater tonight, and he let me in on a few new developments: 

• The two-metre SNP repeater that I previously mentioned is now on the Chaska water tower. N0BVE (Don) is running a machine on the 145.230- (114.8 PL) pair, and it has EchoLink and tone squelch implemented. I've never heard anyone on it, and it seems as if Don is keeping it in reserve while testing it for reliability. It's quite functional, and comes back S7 here in Plymouth. 

• The 443.000+ (100.0 PL) UHF repeater in Chaska  is back on the bench, and the 444.925+ (114.8 PL) has taken its place in Chaska. Those of you in the SW and Western metro on UHF should make note of the change. 

• N0BVE has also set up a Yaesu System Fusion (C4FM) repeater in Minnetonka on the same site as the 145.450 2M HandiHam machine. It operates on 442.925+ (114.8 PL) in hybrid (both analogue and C4FM) mode. This is the same frequency pair as KA0PQW (Matt) uses for his UHF HandiHam repeater in Ellendale, and it's currently being tested as a possible backup for his failing machine there. I ker-chunked it for an S7 return, though it took at least ten watts. That's odd, since it's only about five miles (at most) from my location. My impression is that Don is also using this repeater to get acquainted with the C4FM mode, as he plans to link it to the network in the near future. So, the western metro is going to get another UHF machine -- and one that's linked, too. 

EDIT: I was able to get in to the 442.925 okay with my PuXing HT and a stock duck antenna indoors, and also with my indoor Leixen rig. I guess that I need to clear some of the ice off my outdoor antenna. The 442.925 is definitely linked already, as I could hear the Friday Night Tech Net quite well on it.

Loose Notes 1/3/15

Not much going on, but I have a few items that don't merit their own posts.

• There's a new Amateur TV (ATV) repeater in town! N0MNB (Bill) is operating this repeater out of New Brighton on 1250.000, with an input of 427.250. Though my Kenwood TH-F6A can receive 1.2 GHz, I don't have an antenna for the band and feed-line losses are insane at these high frequencies. Obviously, you need to connect your radio to a computer to view the signal. I'm still looking for someone that knows enough about the band and ATV to write up some kind of tutorial on how to set up a station, because that person sure isn't me.

• In an on-air conversation with N0BVE (Don), I learned that the 443.000+ (100.0 PL) HandiHam repeater is back on the air, operating from Chaska as it was before. I was unable to get the current location of the 444.925+ (114.8 PL) repeater from him, as the .925 has been operating from Chaska while the 443.000 machine was being repaired. Instead, he reiterated his plans to move the .925 to the airport in Bloomington -- where the 444.325+ (131.8 PL) currently is. The .325 will become a stand-alone (i.e. not linked to the HandiHam network) repeater, and the .925 will take over the function of the .325 in extending the network coverage to St. Paul and the southern suburbs. The 444.325 machine will join the (virtually unused) stand-alone UHF repeaters in that area: the TCRC's 444.300+, the TCFMC's 444.125+, and the County "emergency" repeater on 444.200+. 

• Also in Don's plans for the HandiHam network is the inclusion of a System Fusion (C4FM) repeater. Details of this addition were sparse, but it will be linked to the network and allow local operators to use the proprietary C4FM digital mode and communicate with others using analogue FM. Ultimately, Don's plans are to include all of the common digital modes in the network. This would create compatibility between the various modes, while allowing digital users to speak to analogue users. It's a truly visionary concept. Yaesu's WIRES-X internet connection protocol is also going to be added, per Don. 

•  The HandiHam network has run out of EchoLink callsigns, per KA0KMJ (John). John has lent the network the use of his -L sign for the 443.000 repeater's node, and his -R sign is in use on the 444.425+ (114.8 PL) machine. An operator is only allowed two variants of their sign to be assigned to nodes: the -L and the -R. If you're registered on EchoLink (i.e. you've been verified and have installed the software on any device) and you have a -L or -R sign to spare, just contact N0BVE (Don) to get the process in motion. Contact details are on his QRZ.com page.

• I found an interesting blog post about adding a counterpoise to a BaoFeng HT. Amateur operator SA6TOM (Tommi) in Sweden has provided detailed instructions for the addition of a "tiger-tail", and the basic process can be applied to any HT. By attaching a wire to the chassis ground of the hand-held radio, you create a ground-plane -- much like the radials that you see on base station antennae. Normally, your body is the "ground-plane" when using an HT -- and your body isn't the most efficient RF conductor, nor is it tuned to the proper frequency. I've tried this with one of my monoband UHF hand-helds, though I just slipped some bare stranded wire wrapped around the outside of the SMA connector and tightened the antenna down to hold it. I was pleasantly surprised how much reception improved by adding the wire and holding it in the "sweet spot". Even allowing it to hang freely helped somewhat. It's an easy experiment to try.

Loose Notes 11/29/14

Just a few brief items that don't merit their own post: 

• There's a 2M repeater on the SNP frequency in Maple Lake sponsored by the HandiHam network. This morning, I "ker-chunked" a machine on the 145.230- (114.8 PL) SNP pair, and it came back S5 here in Plymouth using a fairly marginal antenna. The MRC listing shows this as a "closed" repeater, so I contacted the local HandiHam expert, N0BVE (Don), and inquired about it. Per Don, this is actually an open repeater and the MRC data is out-of-date. There aren't many VHF machines west of the metro, so it's a welcome development for me. The other HandiHam repeater in Maple Lake is on 145.470- (114.8 PL), and is pretty hard for me to reach even here in Plymouth. The SNP machine isn't linked to the network. It uses tone squelch and seems to have decent "ears", too. Give it a shot. 

• N0BVE (Don) also confirmed the current status and configuration of the linked UHF machines in the HandiHam network, which is good because it's always in flux. The 444.925+ (114.8 PL) is still in Chaska, the 444.325+ (131.8 PL) is still in Bloomington at the airport, and the 443.000+ (100.0 PL) is down for repairs. 

•  I've inquired of several people (N0YNT, N0BVE, K9EQ, and K0LAV) over the previous few weeks to see who knows anything about the 444.875+ (114.8 PL) repeater in downtown Minneapolis. This UHF repeater has pretty decent coverage and operates with FM analogue voice, but there's also digital traffic (D-Star) on the frequency. D-Star machines don't operate as hybrids (both analogue and digital), so there's speculation that there are actually two repeaters on the same pair. Neither the RepeaterBook listing nor the MRC listing sheds any light on the matter. If the four "movers and shakers" that I mentioned don't know about a repeater, then that really makes me curious. If you have the definitive info on this mystery, please post a comment or email me (address to the left under "Contributors"). 

•  It seems as if the conversation on the MARA UHF .800 repeater a few nights ago had a whole lot of people listening in. You guys know that it's okay to transmit on that repeater, don't you? If you support the MARA 146.850 repeater, you are also supporting the MARA UHF machine, too. So don't be scared of UHF, and get your money's worth by using the .800 machine. 

•  EDIT: I've neglected to mention the new UHF C4FM repeater that KA0KMJ (John) is operating on 444.725+ (127.3 PL). It came back with a full-scale signal here in Plymouth this morning, but that's not too surprising since it's in Osseo. The repeater is working as a hybrid (digital and analogue), and it joins the 444.375 as one of the few repeaters operating from the NW metro suburbs. Program it in and give it a shot, and maybe enter a propagation report on the RepeaterBook listing to confirm John's coverage estimates.

Loose notes 10/18/14

Just a few short items worthy of mention, but not enough to justify a separate post:

• I'm not sure what's going on with the new HandiHam 444.925+ (114.8 PL) repeater, which is ostensibly in Chaska. Over the past two weeks, it's become difficult for me to reach and its signal is much weaker. Maybe it's finally been moved to its intended home at the Bloomington airport, or it might just be "struggling". 
• The Gopher Radio Club's APRS gateway (W0YC-10) is back on the air and looks to be stable! It's now contributing to the local VHF propagation reporting, which is nice because it has such a high antenna. Others, such as KD0KYA, K0JDD, KC0VRV, and N0FKB really stepped up to the plate and filled in the gap while W0YC-10 was down. Thanks to Ryan for replacing the router and network interface, which also restored EchoLink on the UHF 444.425 repeater. 
• Rumour has it that KA0KMJ (John) has picked up a Yaesu Fusion C4FM repeater and plans to put it on the air. I'd guess that it will be operating on UHF, and probably connected to the internet through Yaesu's WIRES protocol at some point. EDIT: John seems annoyed that I was unaware of this development, and has 'pointed out' that the System Fusion repeater has operational for a week -- or, as he put it, "a WEEK!". 
• K0LAV (Paul) has obtained a VHF DMR repeater and is looking to put it on the air! That would be the second DMR repeater in MN, and one of the few on the two-metre band in the country. Since all of the VHF frequency pairs are taken in the metro area, he'd have to operate on the SNP (Shared Non-Protected) slot, which could create problems with other analogue machines on the SNP frequency. Hopefully, the MRC (MN Repeater Council) will sort this all out at their meeting today. 
• Thinking about setting up a hobby repeater to tinker around with? That's great! But you need to get it co-ordinated with the MRC instead of operating on simplex channels. You can set it up on the SNP channel with a minimum of paperwork -- much less than you would need for a non-SNP repeater -- and make it official and legal pretty easily. Just contact someone at the MRC and ask about setting up an SNP machine.    

HandiHam .925 repeater is now standalone

It's become easier for me to reach the 444.925 repeater in Chaska lately. Maybe there have been some improvements over the past week. While I had trouble with people on the other repeaters being able to read me when I came through the .925, at least it was linked. Now, however, none of the traffic found on the rest of the linked network is being carried on the .925, and anything heard by the .925 is not linked over to the rest of the network. 

The EchoLink node that previously was attached to the 443.000 Chaska repeater, KA0KMJ-R (node 150438), is still up. The .925 supposedly replaced the (SNP) 443.000 machine, but the link must have been taken down. I can only wonder what machine the node is attached to now. 

Still, I was able to "ker-chunk" the .925 with my 5W mobile for a full S9 while driving around Plymouth yesterday. That's a lot better than I can get from the VHF 147.165+ machine in Chaska under the same conditions. It makes me think that the .925 might not be in Chaska any more. 

The down-side is that the audio has declined in quality. There's a whistling sound in the background that distorts the CW ID. I'm sure that N0BVE (Don) will say that it's still a "work in progress", but I've asked him about what's going on with this new addition to the HandiHam network -- mostly because I like having a new UHF repeater to play with. There aren't as many of them in the western metro as you find elsewhere. 

There's always something happening with the local infrastructure this time of year, either for good or bad. 

EDIT: N0BVE (Don) reports that the 443.000 machine is down, but will return at some point. He also confirms that that 444.925 repeater is still in Chaska. 

EDIT: Last night the net was carried on the .925, so it seems that the link is in operation at times.

HandiHam network update

The new UHF repeater at 444.925+ (114.8 PL) is up and running! It's linked to the rest of the HandiHam network, as well as the EchoLink conference server. When I was mobile this afternoon, I reached it from here in Plymouth -- though not very well, judging by a signal report from W7SS. So I switched over to the VHF 145.450 link and continued the QSO. While that was in progress, N0BVE (Don) jumped in to correct me by saying that the new repeater was not in Bloomington (as the listing states). For the time being, this new .925 machine is in Chaska and it seems that the Bloomington .325 remains linked as always. 

There wasn't time to get further information from Don, but there was already a UHF repeater in Chaska linked to the HandiHam network on the SNP (Shared Non-Protected) 443.000+ (100.0 PL). I'm unable to bring that repeater up, so maybe the new 444.925 is taking its place. 

With the Chaska SNP repeater apparently down, you should feel free to give N0YNT's (Matt) 443.000+ (118.8 PL) machine a try. While it's not currently linked, it has good coverage. 

EDIT: the 443.000+ repeater operated by N0YNT has been taken down to make room for a DMR repeater.

The SNP frequencies are kind of like a co-ordination "limbo" for  those that want to test a repeater or operate one without the 150 mile protection radius. The MRC makes sure that no two repeaters are on the same pair within 150 miles of another, in order to minimise interference. Multiple repeaters can operate on an SNP pair (hence, "Shared"), but without this 150-mile radius (hence, "Non-Protected"). In order to make sure that these repeaters don't interfere with each other, CTCSS (PL) tones are required for SNP pairs.

Changes in the HandiHam network coming

Per an on-air conversation last night (7/4) with N0BVE (Don), there are some minor changes in store for the UHF end of the local HandiHam network.

The UHF side of the linked network seems to be the most over-looked aspect of the HandiHam vision. Many new hams struggle to reach the VHF 145.450 machine, when one of the UHF repeaters linked to the network would be a better option for them in terms of signal strength. They all go to the same "place", so if you can get into one of the UHF repeaters, you are also on the VHF .450 in Minnetonka. Likewise, anyone using EchoLink to access the HandiHam conference node is also transmitting on the UHF repeaters -- not just the VHF machine.

The "main" UHF machine in the linked network is the 444.650+ (114.8 PL) on the West Bank near the U of M. There's also the 443.000+ (100.0 PL) in Chaska, and the 444.325+ (131.8 PL) in Bloomington at the MSP Airport. It's been several months since the 444.850+ repeater in Edina went down, and the link to the 1.25M 223.940- went with it. I've been unable to find out any information about the plan to restore the link and repeater, but I've not heard that the effort has been abandoned, either.

The minor changes to the UHF side involve making the 444.325 a standalone repeater (i.e. not linked to the HandiHam network), and adding another repeater on 444.925+. It wasn't completely clear in my conversation with Don where the new .925 repeater would be sited.(Note: see edit at bottom of this post)

The 444.325 has decent coverage, especially to the south and east, though it kind of duplicates the coverage of the TCRC's 444.300+ (114.8 PL) repeater. On the other hand, it could also serve as a back-up to the sometimes-troubled .300 machine. The only other machine out that way is the 442.550+ (100.0 PL) in West St. Paul, though other repeaters cover that area reasonably well. In any case, the 444.325 isn't exactly a "hobby" repeater, as I've "ker-chunked" it from Long Lake Regional Park before. It remains to be seen who will "inhabit" it, however. While the number of active UHF users is growing, I think it still may be too small to keep a "new" repeater active. A comparable repeater would be the 444.375+ (114.8 PL) in Plymouth, and to say that the .375 is "under-utilised" would be an understatement. Although, the .325 in Bloomington may have built up a core group of users over the years by virtue of it's link to the HandiHam network. It's possible that these users will stick around after that link is severed.

If the new .925 repeater is sited in the same place, only linked, that would be a decent coverage outcome. The HandiHam network's coverage is weakest in the north, however. In previous on-air discussions with KG0BP (Chris) -- who is the trustee for the currently-defunct Edina .850 machine -- a plan of sorts was mentioned where the UHF .850 would use a beam pointed north in an effort to improve that situation. KD0WIL (Erik) also made an effort to improve northern coverage with a simplex link, though this alternative created some controversy.  N0YNT (Matt) also made some attempts to improve coverage of the network by temporarily linking the UHF .425 to HandiHam, and also by establishing a link from the 1.25M HandiHam machine to the network by way of his N0YNT-L node. Neither of these alternative "stop-gap" measures turned out be well-received.

It's clear that the entire concept of linked repeaters is met with inarticulate disdain by many clubs, trustees, and users alike. A minority, however, have a different vision -- and that vision is slowly becoming reality on the UHF band.

EDIT: RepeaterBook is showing the 444.925 as sited in Bloomington, and in testing...with a functioning EchoLink node already. Most likely, it's at the same MSP Airport site as the .325 machine. Give it a try!

repeater updates and leftovers 2/9

This is just a few bits and pieces that didn't fit into the other posts that I wrote today.

• N0YNT-L hasn't been linking the 223.940 to the HandiHam network for a few days now. There was some trouble earlier in the week with the link produced "tail-chasing", but that was supposedly solved. No word from N0YNT (Matt) on whether or not this will come back.
• The Rogers 442.950+ (PL 114.8) was down for at least twelve hours this weekend, but is up now. I've still not heard anyone on this repeater yet, though it reaches into Minneapolis proper. 
• I was finally able to reach N0YNT's 'new' UHF repeater 443.000+ (PL 118.8) from my mobile. This evening it came back with an S9 at a range of 13.2 miles. 
• The HandiHam network had severe technical difficulties Saturday, prompting a cancellation of the evening net. As of 7:20 PM on Sunday, no evening net has materialised. The VHF .450 seems to be working for normal use, so perhaps it's one of the linked machines or the RF link itself. 
• I was able to "ker-chunk" the Maplewood 442.600+ (PL 156.7) machine tonight from central Plymouth: S9 at a range of 25 miles. No one is ever on the repeater, so I don't know what to make of that in terms of a potential QSO, but it reaches across the metro quite well. It should easily be able to reach from Lake Minnetonka to River Falls, WI. The mysterious individuals behind it should consider implementing IRLP.

 Well, that's all that I've got today. I only hope that it was enough.

UPDATE: The New Brighton 145.290 repeater came back on the air late Sunday night.

Impromptu links with N0YNT-L

N0YNT (Matt) has been experimenting with a "remote base" and EchoLink over the past week or so. This involves asking permission from the people that operate a specific repeater, then using a normal transceiver connected to the internet with an interface cable and accessing EchoLink.

When I was driving home from work on Friday (1/31), I was hearing people that normally populate the HandiHam network on the 1.25M Arden Hills machine (223.940-, PL 100.0). At first, I thought that the link to the .940 had been restored, which would seem improbable. But, after a few minutes, I heard a computerised voice ID announce "N0YNT link" over the 223.940 repeater. I puzzled over it for a bit while driving, and I guessed that Matt had deviously used his (previously described) remote base link to connect the 223.940 to the HandiHam network. When I got home, I flipped my radio on to 444.425 and asked about this. It turned out that my speculation was correct. He had obtained permission from KA0PQW (Matt) to conditionally link the machines when a net wasn't in progress.

I knew that N0YNT had done a similar thing with the UHF 443.000, but I had thought that there were problems caused by the CW IDs between the remote base link and the HandiHam network. Apparently those issues were resolved, because the link arrangement worked very well.

Further surprises were yet to come. Last night (2/1), I had left my 1.25M mobile (TYT TH-9000) monitoring the Arden Hills 223.940 repeater as I often do. There isn't a lot of activity, so it's not really distracting to leave the radio on. Also, I want to be able to come back to anyone that's experimenting with the band and let them know that somebody is listening. Though the volume was low, I vaguely heard someone throw out their sign as I read an old pulp fiction novel. Springing into action, I got KC0IVL to come back and I gave him a 'signal report' on his EchoLink connection. After I signed, I heard that same computerised voice ID announcing "N0YNT link". Moments later, N0YNT's voice emerged from the ether as he recognised my sign. I thought that he was mobile, because he has 1.25M capability in his vehicle, but he said that he was at home.

As it turns out, "N0YNT link" had been employed to link the 223.940 repeater to the UHF 444.425+ (PL 114.8). The HandiHam net was in progress at that time, so the link from the .940 to the HandiHam network had to be taken down. The signal wasn't "full-quieting", but it was very good. And so we had a temporary cross-band link between the 'busiest' 1.25M repeater and the 'busiest' UHF repeater. I kind of wanted to put this link arrangement to the test, so I remained on 1.25M throughout. N0YNT and N0DSH joined me in a conversation for about an hour, and the link worked fine for the duration.

I guess that the moral of the story is that you should keep your ears alert for that computerised voice announcing "N0YNT link" as you monitor or talk on your favourite repeater. It might very well be that the person you are talking to isn't on the same band, and it could take you to places that you don't expect. Of course, with the HandiHam network, that's always been the case. You could be talking to someone on UHF when you're on the two metre HandiHam machine and not even know it. And that's a good thing, because we don't need any more fragmentation of our local community into isolated bands.

A lot of the available gear for 1.25M is monoband. In other cases, such as with the TYT TH-F9 440/222 HT, the other band (440 MHz) is useless. For many, turning on their 222 MHz radio means leaving behind everyone on two metres and UHF and camping out in an empty frontier. That's not an inviting proposition, even for those that want to do their part to prevent the loss of the 1.25M band to commercial interests by actually being on it. With the "N0YNT link", however, you can turn on your 222 MHz radio and still have access to the entire HandiHam network on both VHF and UHF -- at least when the nets aren't in operation.

Another new ham, first QSO: KD0YFX

Previously, I wrote about being the first QSO for new ham KD0YRD. Well, the same thing happened last night. I was monitoring the HandiHam UHF .650, when KD0YFX (Thaddeus) threw out his sign on the network and announced it was his first QSO. He was over in St. Paul with a dual-band (?) J-pole on two metres, with a readable signal mixed with noise. I gave him a signal report and told him about the UHF .650 because it was closer to him, since he was using at HT with the J-pole. He wasn't particularly chatty, but there's plenty of time to get to know him.

The HandiHam network seems to be where new hams go. Why is that? I mean, there was no activity on the network at that time, but Thaddeus chose that machine to throw out his sign for his first QSO, much like KD0YRD (Julie).

Didn't these two new hams want the opportunity to get the blessing of our elite elders holding court on some other repeaters? Apparently, they were attracted to a machine with reliable activity and similarly-minded patrons. Who would have anticipated that?

I'm hopeful that, as these new people figure out the HandiHam cross-band arrangement, they will discover that there is life beyond two metres. While the VHF .450 has a great site and respectable coverage, it's probably easier for most to access the network through the UHF side. And then they might discover some of the other UHF machines out there.

The attraction factor

After the mid-day HandiHam net today, I had a brief chat with a ham in River Falls, WI -- W9ISQ (Don).
I sometimes hear "9" callsigns on the 146.850 morning net, but not anywhere else. Don is not normally on VHF/UHF, but he was at home today due to the cold weather (I imagine, at least) and threw out his sign on the HandiHam VHF .450 machine. I was at home sick, and I waited for three others to talk to W9ISQ before I had my chance. People talk about a lack of activity here, but it's really relatively crowded compared to a lot areas of the country -- especially for the Midwest.

I've wondered over the past year or so why there's so little cross-border activity. The 146.850 repeater has a remote receive site about ten miles into WI, which should make two metre contact pretty easy for the west-central area of that State. And the UHF state-wide network (WINET) has a linked machine in the north-east metro (Arden Hills) that reaches out here to Plymouth. The Stillwater 147.060 reaches out to the western suburbs here quite well, too. I would imagine that it also reaches into Wisconsin about as far. Others, such as the TCFMC's VHF .760 machine, claim to reach into western WI. I'm not familiar enough with the St. Paul machines to know how well their coverage extends across the border.

After talking with W9ISQ, I'm beginning to get the idea that there just isn't a lot of FM activity in Wisconsin in the first place.

The WI UHF network is dead, outside of a few scheduled nets. When I asked Don about that, he just mentioned problems with people "ker-chunking" the network and not keying up long enough before speaking so that all of the links can open. That hardly seems like a good reason for people to stay off the network, at least to me. People "ker-chunk" pretty much every repeater to see if they can hit it, and that doesn't drive people away. Don was one of the people that helped build that network -- I guess that he works putting up, maintaining, and climbing on towers -- and he seemed pretty unenthusiastic about it. Likewise with the new VHF/digital state-wide network being put together. It's all just a yawn. Nobody is on the networks because nobody is on the networks to talk to. That's the vicious circle that I think a lot of communities face.

HandiHam has had dramatic success, relatively speaking, in drawing activity. It's created by having two daily nets, announcements, and an EchoLink conference server that's known all over the world. Local people come there because there are people to talk to, and you never know what country is going to drop in on EchoLink. From the other side, people come in from other States and countries because there are actually people here to talk to. Activity draws activity. People want to monitor repeaters where something happens, and they join in to conversations because they just happened to be monitoring.

Now, other repeaters have the same elements that HandiHam has. The UHF .425 has great coverage (well into WI) and EchoLink, for example. The New Brighton 145.290 has decent metro-area coverage and EchoLink. The Oakdale 146.850 has exceptional coverage even out to the rural areas. But none of these draw the level of activity that the HandiHam network does.

First and foremost, HandiHam has an EchoLink conference server. That's big, because it allows multiple connections. People can hang out without actually transmitting without monopolising the node. Other links in the network can be connected; other machines and just simplex links. And IRLP access is made possible while all of this other stuff is going on. Just having a node isn't enough to take advantage of EchoLink's potential.

Secondly, the network has decent local coverage. The VHF machine in the west and the UHF machines from south-west to south-east, plus the central metro, make it relatively easy to access. Others have better coverage, doubtlessly. But the quality of the machines used and the reliability within the coverage area is a positive factor. It's adequate, and the network isn't hobbled.

Last, and probably least important, is the cross-band coverage. While the 220 MHz link is currently down, there still is UHF and VHF full-time cross-link. The UHF .425 is planning a cross-band link, but nobody else has that right now.

I had a short chat with KD0UIH (Chuck) last night, and one the things that came up is that both of us are "repeater nomads". We don't have any specific repeater that we call home, and we both kind of would like to settle on one place where we can be found with reasonable reliability.

I've spent a lot of time on dead repeaters, trying to create activity. No matter which machine I settle on, I will probably have a secondary dead repeater that I'll try to draw activity to. Or maybe a repeater that's not totally dead, but just has light activity. I'm kind of leaning toward the 444.425 as my main hangout, because the future addition of the VHF link won't isolate me from the two-metre crowd. And the Maple Plain 147.000 repeater is one that has a little activity, but has interesting people and is on the "frontier" of the metro-area coverage, so to speak. One of the radio clubs that has really attracted me has been the Maple Grove Radio Club that runs the 147.000 machine. But the HandiHam network will always be huge for me because of the 220 MHz link, and the EchoLink capability.

I'm not sure which way Chuck will go, but the .425 is a good option for him for the same reason: the VHF link will be in his back yard. It should be intriguing to hear his reasoning when he does arrive at a decision.

The hard thing isn't trying to find a good option; it's choosing from so many good options. I have to wave goodbye to a lot of repeaters, or else I'm still wandering all over.

New VHF repeater rumoured to be in the works

In a discussion yesterday with N0YNT (Matt) and KD0KJI (Al) on the UHF .425, N0YNT revealed that a new VHF repeater is being tested for the Gopher Radio Club.

Details are still a bit sketchy, but the current scenario involves a site on the St. Paul U of M campus next to Falcon Heights, and operating on the 147.150 repeater pair. It may very well use a 160W power amplifier.

KD0KJI (Al) helped with the signal reports as Matt tested the machine from his home, and he confirmed that it was putting a signal on the air that was readable.

I'm less enthusiastic about the Falcon Heights site. Though it's definitely high ground, there isn't much of a tower there. Given the difficulty I've had accessing the other machines there, it could be that this new repeater ends up being a great option for those east of downtown Minneapolis, but only of marginal use for those of us here in the western suburbs.

While Matt did not explicitly state that the new machine would be cross-band linked to the UHF .425, he did not refute my implications regarding the possibility. I think that it would be safe to assume that it will have EchoLink, which would make such a cross-band capability quite simple to do.

UHF has experienced a minor resurgence in town of late, due to the easy availability of cheap dual-band radios and the relative ease of getting a repeater slot in the crowded spectrum. But what also has helped has been the cross-band capability of the HandiHam network. Those with UHF radios are no longer isolated from those on two metres, and nobody really knows which band someone is on when they are heard on the network. However, the coverage of the HandiHam UHF .650 is spotty and more geared to the eastern metro. The addition of the south-eastern UHF .325 and the south-western machine in Chaska don't help in the western, northern, and north-west areas.

The UHF .425 has phenomenal coverage and hardware, and Echolink access. Yet, it's not accessible to so many of the "two-metre only" hams found in the metro. In contrast to the HandiHam UHF .650, the .425 reaches the western suburbs easily. I can hit it reliably (though not full-quieting) with 2.5W and a rubber duck from inside of my condo in Plymouth. An eastern metro VHF link would be the perfect complement to the two networks' coverage.

HandiHam has VHF in the west, and UHF in the east-central. The Gopher Radio Club has UHF in the east-central, and will potentially have VHF in the east.

If this turns out to be just another standalone VHF machine in the metro. I'd have to question why it's being done. We have an incredible number of two metre machines already, specialising coverage in various niches, and duplicating coverage all over most of the metro. At a certain point, having a dozen or so VHF machines with no cross-band function just fragments the limited number of hams available at any given time into smaller and less-sustainable groups. Sure, every club wants to have their own repeater. But those clubs are shrinking and ageing badly, and struggling with money to pay for the antenna sites and keep their machines repaired. And those machines are often empty as superior coverage or loyalty to a particular club takes second place to easily-found activity.

We already have an excellent network of County-run repeaters for emergency use: the Edina, Plymouth, Golden Valley machines come to mind. These are powerful machines on strong, well-positioned towers, with power back-ups and security. The idea that we need a dozen or more other machines to provide redundancy in case of an emergency is ill-founded.

What we need is fewer repeaters (and "paper" repeaters), and higher-quality hardware and siting for those that remain. And more links between scattered machines, rather than more "local" and "hobby" repeaters.

Thirty years ago, we had a scarcity of coverage and over-burdened machines in the metro. Those days are gone. Now we have too many machines splitting up fewer hams into smaller cliques. This model was designed to be un-coordinated and encouraged individual fiefdoms only brought together by major issues such as SkyWarn and ARES.

Thirty years ago, there was no grand vision of how to proceed into the future as a metro-wide entity. Such a notion was scoffed at, in fact. While we have some very skilled and dedicated people to make the whole thing function, we have no strategy beyond putting up the greatest possible number of machines on the air -- even if they are on top of each other.

N0YNT has an insightful grasp of what is possible, in realistic terms, going in to the future. The problem is that creating a consensus as to the way forward is like herding cats.

Sunday HandiHam net devolves into idiocy

Today I turned on my radio to catch part of the HandiHam net, which was a mistake.

I wasn't there at the beginning, but apparently nobody showed to take over the net. Whatever the net control situation was, it's a glaring example of why you need a Net Control Operator. Instead of the usual organised discussion and light-hearted well-wishing, the vast majority of the net was devoted to a discussion between a guy in Colorado who knew about IRLP and an incredibly obtuse wanker in Texas who simply wanted attention. It's possible that Terry was the Net Control, and he was just shockingly inept at the job.

I didn't write down the callsigns of the people involved. The guy in Colorado was named Terry, and the incredibly obtuse wanker in Texas used the name "Operator Robert". Between them, they completely monopolised everything. Terry even made a remark at the end, 'apologising' for disrupting our normal discussion "of things like recipes". Yeah, the net is normally all about recipes, isn't it? Really, what never was explained is why it was so terribly important that one person understand what IRLP was. This isn't life-or-death knowledge. Operator Robert didn't give any indication that he was even interested in the answers. Yet, it's absolutely crucial that this one guy in Texas absorbs a tiny bit of information, almost against his will. That's what a world-wide net is for, right?

Basically what happened is that "Operator Robert" wanted to know what IRLP was about. He posed some very vague, open-ended questions, and then proceeded to ignore every answer and talk about anything but IRLP. He reminded me of Ralphie on the Simpsons who, when asked something, will respond with, "My cat's name is Mittens". He craved any kind of attention, and Terry was the perfect sucker to keep being endlessly trolled. Presented with the history of IRLP, for example, Operator Robert responded with a description of just how smart and well-respected his mentor in Texas was. He didn't even make a pathetic attempt to respond, or offer any indication that he understood. Instead, he basically told the world the name of his cat.

It was as if Operator Robert responded to every fact given to him by offering a fact of his own - with no regard if that fact was relevant to anything being discussed.

It wasn't enough that "Operator Robert" (what's up with that, anyway?) didn't do the slightest research before asking his questions. It wasn't enough that he was provided with the URL of the page with all of the information about IRLP. His response to these answers was always to be confused. Hey, Operator Robert! You have to enter the URL into a computer and look at the web page. The web page is where the answers are, not the URL.

I think the height of idiocy in the entire 40-minute fiasco was when Terry told Operator Robert where the IRLP node in Dallas was, which is in the Republic Bank Building. I have absolutely no idea why Terry thought that giving this idiot the location of the node would clear anything up. Operator Robert, however,  managed to be completely baffled by even this simple bit of information. "I'm looking out my window, and I see a building with the letters KPNQ on it'. Really, Ralphie? Okay, so you're some place else, and you aren't finding that building at your current location. Yeah, that's pretty confusing there, buddy.  Maybe, if you wanted to look at the building where the IRLP node is hosted, you should go to that location. The building isn't coming to you, Ralphie. Terry, taking the bait with both hands, explains that KPNQ isn't a ham callsign. It never got better than that.

It was so stupid that it was hardly surprising that one guy wandered in to the middle of a goddamn net and threw out his callsign. When Terry asked him if he was responding to the discussion, this bozo replied that he was just letting everyone know that he was monitoring.

Toward the end, some of the net "regulars" made an appearance, but it was already in the books as a disaster.

This is one of the dangers of running the HandiHam net on IRLP. Suddenly, local people in places like Texas hear activity on their repeater. Nobody explains what's going on, or that the net isn't local. On top of that, incredibly obtuse wankers like Operator Robert, who the locals probably have learned to avoid, are now given a world-wide platform. We got a "recipe", all right, but it's for disaster.

Brazilian weirdness on HandiHam -- 10M FM?

On Thursday morning (Thanksgiving), I had my UHF HT on as I checked my email and went about my morning routine. There was a lot of activity on the .650, I noticed. First, there was a lot of "key ups" (where someone presses the mic button in but doesn't say anything), as if someone was steadily "ker-chunking" the machine. That's not too weird, but it usually doesn't go on for long. Every minute or so there was a hit along with a "roger beep", for about 15 minutes. Then the Portuguese started. Two guys were having a QSO on the local repeater in Portuguese. One of the callsigns was PU7MTH, which obviously isn't local. It went on for about ten minutes, then went back to irregular "key ups" with beeps and PU7MTH asking if anyone was there. KA0PQW (Matt) came on, but the Brazilian didn't come back to him. Matt commented aloud during a burst of beeps that "someone must've hooked up a tail-tracer", whatever that means.

It's not unusual to get international contacts on the local HandiHam repeater network. I've talked to a guy from Japan myself on the .450 machine. They come in through EchoLink, and it's one of the benefits of having a popular EchoLink conference server here.

But this was different. People from other countries are always are talking to locals, not to people in other countries. Why would two people in Brazil decide to use an EchoLink conference server in Minneapolis for a QSO? And who has 'roger beeps" on their computer's EchoLink? And what was with all of the "key ups"? It was mysterious, and it stayed on my mind.

As I have mentioned before, there are plans to set up a 10 meter FM repeater linked to the local HandiHam network. With the 10M band so active and open recently, Brazil wouldn't be excluded from reaching here. On Saturday, I was listening to 10M FM -- not transmitting, because that isn't allowed for Techs -- and I heard several Brazilian stations. They were even on the 29.660 frequency that the putative 10M HandiHam repeater would be on.

It suddenly occurred to me that I might have been hearing 10M FM traffic on Thanksgiving! I put my theory to the test by tuning my HF radio to 29.660 FM, and threw out my sign on the VHF .450 machine. It wasn't repeated over 10M. Still, it was possible that the receiver of the local 10M repeater was linked, but not the transmitter. I listened to see if any of the activity on the 10M FM frequency was being repeated on the HandiHam network. It wasn't.

Not knowing when to quit, I emailed N0BVE (Don). He's the guy who is working on the 10M/6M project, and who knows everything about the technical aspects of the network. The bottom line is that he confirmed, in no uncertain terms, that the 10 meter repeater is not connected, and that he's still looking for a transmitter site. Nice of him to get back to me so quickly, and he was quite polite about it, too.

No mysterious Brazilians have shown up since Thursday, so I guess that nobody knows what was going on.

It does make me wonder how this 10M FM repeater will work when the band "opens up". The local network could be dominated for hours by non-local activity during the day. I suppose that could be exciting, and there are other repeaters in town to use for local conversations. But the HandiHam network is the prime cross-band option in town. I mean, it's pretty much the only one. Still, having too much activity on a repeater would be a fun problem to have, and this solar cycle isn't going to last forever.

UPDATE: A recent conversation with KA0PQW (Matt) revealed that the situation was caused by a Brazilian repeater linking to the HandiHam network via EchoLink, along with a "tail-tracer" (or "tail-chaser"?) being used on the Brazilian end. It was ultimately shut down on the HandiHam end. Mystery solved.
Thanks to Matt and Don for not only solving this problem, but explaining it to me.

HandiHam repeater update

 I had a chat with KG0BP (Chris) this morning on the HandiHam .450, as a follow-up to a 'conversation' last night on the Arden Hills 220 MHz repeater. Chris runs the link to the 223.940 HandiHam repeater, as well as running the 444.850 HandiHam repeater. I got the inside scoop as to what is going on with both of these.

I've had a lot of trouble reaching the .850 no matter what I've tried. Edina isn't that far from Plymouth, especially considering that I can reach the Bloomington .325 UHF HandiHam machine decently. But Chris doesn't have a tower - just a ground plane on the roof of his house - and the antenna isn't above the trees. "Green leaf attenuation" isn't an issue with VHF, but it will kill you on UHF. The .850 doesn't get further north than St. Louis Park, according to Chris, but does well to the south and east. Still, the south and east are pretty well covered by the HandiHam network already. The Bloomington repeater covers the south-east pretty well, the Chaska repeater covers the south-west, and the .650 is closer to St. Paul (while still in Minneapolis proper). Chris says that the .850 reaches into downtown Minneapolis, too. For something that's on the level of a "hobby" repeater, that's not bad.

Right now, Chris is in the middle of moving house, so the 220 MHz link and the .850 are both down. He's considering some different options when he sets these two back up. The first is a beam to the 223.940, which makes a lot of sense to me. There's not a lot of point to having an omnidirectional link, and he's been doing that mostly because it was easier. I told him about the 3 element Yagi that I just got for 220 MHz, and he might get that. It's small and light enough for a rooftop situation, and it would be the way to go if you just want to hit the one repeater and feed it into the EchoLink system. The second thing that he's considering is using a beam for the .850 pointing north. Again, that sounds like a really good idea to me, since the other directions are largely redundant and a UHF beam is pretty small. He could get rid of two ground planes and replace them with two small beams, while still having a ground plane on the same mast.

While the move has placed antennae lower on the list of priorities for Chris, and the weather is moving toward winter now, it's not unrealistic that both of these links could be up in a few months. Even though my personal interests are strongly in favour of the restoration of the 220 MHz cross-band functions, I would rather see this done right than done quickly. And any kind of improvement to the cross-band UHF coverage in the metro could encourage UHF use, too.